BART Unions Accuse Management of Contract Delays and Costly Perks

In a teleconference with reporters today, the presidents of three of BART’s five unions accused BART management of not showing good faith in efforts to complete negotiations on a new 4-year contract by June 30th, the day the current contract expires. The unions claim that management talks a good game in public, assuring the press that union and non-union workers will share the pain of cutting $100 million in labor costs to drive down an expected $250 million deficit over four years, but that management expects union workers to shoulder more than proportional burden.

"It seems to us the district is spending more time on a public information campaign vilifying employees than good faith bargaining," said Jesse Hunt, President of ATU Local 1555.

Perhaps anticipating the teleconference, BART this morning sent out a press release 15 minutes beforehand claiming that the unions haven’t come up with a single cost-saving proposal since they began negotiating.

“We’ve been at this since April 1,” said BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger. “The unions have had plenty of time to decide what makes the best sense for them and their members. The tough choices need to be made now.”

If BART unions decided to strike, the entire region would grind to a halt,
something that hasn’t happened since 1997, when there were far
fewer riders. The tete-a-tete continued through press releases, statements, and duelingwebsites, leaving it uncertain whether or not the two sides would make the June 30th deadline.

The unions said that BART management shouldn’t have given themselves bonuses this January, which they claimed was well into the economic downturn and contradicted a commitment to share the pain of cutbacks.

"In January the management all got their yearly increases, and we know how the economy was then," said Jean E. Hamilton, President of AFSCME Local 3993. "We have trouble trusting the district in their numbers and their desire and sincerity in tightening their belt now."

Defending the bonuses, BART spokesperson Linton Johnson said management received merit incentives in January, and union employees in July. "That’s very misleading. The management incentive pay that management is entitled to comes by contract. They didn’t get anything beyond their scheduled increase; it’s a contractual obligation."

The unions were also upset that BART hired outside legal representation for the negotiations, the firm Burke, Williams and Soresonsen, LLP, and called them "carpetbaggers." "She’s not going to be here July 2nd if she blows up the district," said Hamilton, who added that she worried about the economic impact of a strike or other labor action.

BART’s Johnson bristled at the characterization of the legal team and said they were only hired when management’s lead labor negotiator died in January. "We had to hire somebody who had experience with BART over a number of years. Burke, Williams and Soresonsen, LLP has represented BART a number of times."

Johnson added, "To be fair, there are 44 people amongst the five unions, plus their hired legal teams; they all have their own legal teams at the table."

BART’s Board of Directors on June 10th asked for Governor Schwarzenegger to forgo a 60-day "cooling off" period should both sides not meet the deadline in two weeks, a move that has the unions irate. When asked by the Examiner’s Mike Aldax if the unions plan to strike should they not reach an agreement in time, all three presidents said that they hoped to avoid a labor action.

"I think we’ve made some good progress on some of the language proposal
that we have seen," said Hunt, though it was clear Dugger and Johnson disagreed. "We’re trying to meet [management] on their terms on
the work rules and I think we’re doing that. We’re committed to getting
an agreement and it’s really in [management’s] court."

Johnson said that BART management hoped to avoid a strike, but refused to speculate on the odds. "We’re not going to play the game of what ifs. Every day of delay [after the deadline] adds about $70k of additional cost."

Isler speculated that BART management was concerned that the 60 day period would run right up to the Labor Day holiday, when Caltrans will close the Bay Bridge to connect the new span to Yerba Buena Island and BART ridership will likely soar. She noted that in previous negotiations they had come to terms well before the end of the cooling off period.

Another issue that bothers the unions, but will not be resolved through contract negotiations is the perception that BART takes operating surpluses to pay for capital projects between contract negotiations

"The capital projects are a black hole," said Hunt. "You have to be able to
maintain the core system first. To continue to spend money on capital
projects and continue to burden the operating budget doesn’t make
sense. The most recent is the $522 million on the Oakland Airport Connector when there was a $45 million
alternative and the district did not even look at it."

"It’s
the definition of insanity to continue with the same practices and
expect different results. They don’t change anything," added Isler. "Any money they can
consider excess in operating budget, they throw over the fence into
capital. There’s no extra money, no rainy day fund. Until they handle
there finances the way I have to run my own in my daily life, they
will continue to find themselves broke. They need to clean their own house before they railroad us out of ours."

Ugh. Unemployment in California is 10%. Let em strike, and hire new workers.

marcos

Whenever we see Sam Singer brought in to do PR, you know there’s a stink afoot.

And as the tide is going out for working people in the US, let’s all pile on against one another and race to the bottom!

-marc

Jeffrey W. Baker

Why does this come up EVERY two years? Why can’t BART negotiate a ten-year contract?

david vartanoff

some useful concepts,
“good faith” giving our side everything we want without a struggle
“waste” any wages paid to persons on the other side
each side pretends ALL figures from the other are bogus.

transit is a low priority by product for both workers AND management

Victor W

The unions have been ready to negotiate since April 1st as well because that is the official day of when the talks between the district and unions can begin! BART executives should stop relying on their$1.5 MILLION a year lawyer and $15,000 a month public relations firm do their negotiating for them and come to the table themselves. It seems with all the money spent on an anti-labor campaign and law firm and the BART Board of Directors asking Governor Schwarzenegger to not grant a 60-day cooling off period, is that the only “can kicking down the road” is for BART to bust the unions. This fiscal emergency is a self inflicted wound. BART has repeatedly transferred tens of millions of dollars out of their operations budget to their capital budget to fund ill advised boondoggles like the Oakland Airport Connector which will cost over a billion dollars. I have not read anywhere how BART plans on sharing the pain have you? They want BART riders and workers to bear the brunt by raising fares and cutting service. All this at a time when ridership is up? Where are my transit dollars going to? I hope it’s not to pay district credit card bills? No this is all a tactic to take advantage of the current economic climate so that they can raise fares and blame unions for their fiscal mismanagement. Get the facts at http://www.bartbudgetwaste.org and http://www.realbartworkers.org

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Photo: PixelHoundSF With BART and its unions agreeing on a nine-day extension to contract negotiations, the fear of a strike that would incapacitate the Bay Area’s transit networks and gridlock its roads has been temporarily alleviated, though ten days from now the entire region could be in the same predicament if the gap between management […]

Flickr photo: atariboy BART management has reached a tentative deal with three of its five unions, totaling about 2,700 workers, averting a strike that would have strained the Bay Area’s transit systems and gridlocked its roads. The agreement, capping four months of intense negotiations, affects the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 (SEIU), the American […]

With BART contracts expiring next Tuesday night and regional planning organizations urging Bay Area residents to create a contingency plan for getting to work if there is a strike or labor slowdown, BART management and labor representatives are accusing each other of bad-faith negotiations. Though they are bargaining around the clock and both sides insist […]

ATU 1555 President Jesse Hunt announcing strike. Photo: Matthew Roth Standing in front of union headquarters in downtown Oakland this afternoon, leadership for BART’s Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1555 announced that their rank and file would walk off the job after the last trains finish their run this Sunday night, effectively shutting down BART […]

Flickr photo: apevny The BART Board of Directors voted unanimously today to unilaterally impose terms and conditions of employment on members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents up to 900 train operators, station agents and other workers, setting the stage for a potential strike as soon as tomorrow. The move came after […]

BART management and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 plan to resume talks this afternoon in an effort to avert a Monday strike. "We have had communications with management and we’re meeting back at the table at 1 o’clock this afternoon to do everything we can to…get a contract that’s fair to our members and […]